Conrad Matschoß Prize for the history of technology
The Conrad Matschoß Prize for the History of Technology from the Association of German Engineers e. V. has been awarded every two years since 2006 and is endowed with 4,000 euros (as of 2020). The announcement is always made in the summer of a year with an even year.
With the Conrad Matschoß Prize, the VDI wants to strengthen interest in the history of technology, promote contributions to the better understanding of the history of technology and support research on the history of technology. The aim of the award is to promote the historical analysis and presentation of technology, industry and engineering, to understand their historical development in the context of society, economy, science and the environment and to make such technical and historical findings accessible to a broad public.
Excellent work in the history of technology should be honored. On the one hand, popular scientific presentations are intended to bring technical-historical questions and their relevance closer to a wide circle of recipients, and on the other hand, scientific work should make innovative contributions to the discipline. People from research and teaching at universities, museums and monument preservation as well as from journalism and engineering can apply. The awarded work must meet the standards of science and its genre and convince in terms of technical and journalistic quality.
background
Conrad Matschoss (1871–1942) did not see the history of technology as a history of inventions, but as a historical sub-discipline that is closely related to economic and social history . He saw the history of technology as an area of education with which, on the one hand, non-technicians can be introduced to technology and, on the other hand, the other areas of culture should be opened up to technicians and engineers.
Award winners
- 2007: Frederike Müller and Lars Wendt: The Architect Antoni Gaudi - Myth and Reality
- 2009: not awarded
- 2011: Ralf Krauter : When the world saw the light - 50 years of laser history
Sonja Petersen: From the “weak market box” and its manufacturers - 2013: Catarina Caetano da Rosa: Surgical Robots in Action - Controversial Innovations in Medical Technology
Marcus Popplow: Technology in the Middle Ages - 2015: Anke Hertling: Conquering the male domain of the automobile
- 2017: Christian Zumbrägel: A lot of a few make a lot - A small history of hydropower in the 19th and 20th centuries Marcel Hänggi : Stories of progress - For a good use of technology
- 2019: Thomas Schuetz: Linen production in the Kingdom of Württemberg Peter Payer : Up and down - a cultural history of the elevator in Vienna